San Pedro de Atacama and Santiago

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  Santiago, Chile
Sunday, August 10, 2008

So we got out of Bolivia on Friday morning and the after visiting the gysers and the hot springs and the border crossing which they charge an exit tax of 21 Bolivianoes and re-entered civilisation in the way of Chile. from the off you could tell it was a better country as it had paved roads! We took the collective minibus from the border to the town of San Pedro de Atacama where ourselves and our new american friends Matt and Pippa decided to stay for the night before heading to Santiago as we were wrecked after the salt flats tour. As i booked our bus to Santiago with Tur Bus Matt found us a hostel so within 20mins of arriving in the town we were set for the day.- we were some of the lucky ones, we heard stories of people wandering the town for hours looking for a place to stay. The town was very touristy but looked like a town from a western film. Matt and Pippa fell into the ATM trap that happened to us in Copacabana in that the only two in town wouldnīt accept their Visa cards and the money exchange places wouldnīt accept travellers cheques so we spotted them until we reached Calama the following day. We bumped into two other Irish people that had been volunteering in an animal refuge with Matt and Pippa ( Karen and Paul) but they were catching a bus to Santiago straightaway. that night the four of us went for a nice pizzaria dinner followed by an early night.
Saturday
Up early and after finding a place that had breakfast since there was an electricity blackout in the town we then hopped onto the bus to Calama and then to Santiago. The bus from Calama took 21 hours so we arrived in Santiago 9am the following day.
Sunday.
Arrived in Santiago around 9am and the four of us pilled into a taxi and made our way to La Casa Rija hostel, by the way a class place to stay!!! really cheap for Chile and great facilities and location. After getting settled we decided to go for breakfast but nowhere was open until 11 and very little places opened in the city all day due to thae fact it was Sunday. Santiago is a nice city and quite modern but has an old fashioned feel to it.
That night Matt and Pippa cooked for us and Karen and Paul in the hostel and it was fab!
Monday
In the morning we all had our own earrands to run as the shops were back open. I had to buy a new splitter cable for the itouch  an it cost only 30cent which was class.In the afternoon ourselves, Karen, Paul and two more Irish/Kenyans (Their dadīs were Irish) took a bus from the hostel to the Concha y Toro vineyards to take a tour. This vineyard is where they make the world famous Casillero del Diablo amongst other world class wines. The tour of the cellars was much better presented than our tour in Mendoza but both were good craic
That evening we met back up with Matt and Pippa as they had spent the day trying to buy ski gear but obviously our bad luck transferred to them- they left their day pack in the taxi and lost about 1500euro worth of cameras and other stuff incl Pippas journal - that put a serioous downer on the evening and sarah and i felt really bad for them as we knew exactly how they felt. but the eight of us still went for dinner in a lovely restaurant which had the English translation "The fat Cow!" - best steak in Chile!
Tuesday
Up early again and packed the bags and met Matt and Pippa for breakfast. Their luck had again run out- they had shipped ski gear from the states by DHL but Chilian customs didnīt like the package and wouldnīt release it and they could have to wait days or months to get their stuff back, all because the value of the goods was over a certain range and the customs figured the goods were for commercial use not private.
Anyway we left for the bus station at around 11.30 and met up with Karen and Paul and took the TUR Bus to Valparaiso

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